The One Book and The New Jim Crow

Cody Clark, assistant editor 

Community engagement has always been a top priority for PVCC, and the One Book program does just that. Each spring, students vote for that following fall’s one book. This past spring, students had the choice of So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, and, the winner, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Previous One Book winners include Breaking Night: Homeless to Harvard, The Circle, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Sixth Extinction, and Hidden Figures.

Each book in the One Book program is meant to bring the community together to talk about the themes and issues discussed in the book. Director of Library Services Crystal Newell said, “The One Book Program at Piedmont Virginia Community College is an institution-wide initiative whose goal is to bring together students, faculty, staff, and members of the community to read the same book and take part in activities inspired by the text.” 

Once a book has been chosen, it is left to the community to further explore it. This year, PVCC gave out 750 free copies of the book. Professors have the option of including the book as a part of their courses and clubs work to host events at PVCC.

The current one book, The New Jim Crow, discusses how there is still racial discrimination in the United States today. Even though it is socially unacceptable to discriminate against someone based on race, the criminal justice system bypasses this by labeling people as felons. With the label of felon, all forms of discrimination such as denial of the right to vote and employment discrimination are now acceptable as long as someone is labeled a felon. 

The first One Book event of the semester will be “A Common Cause: Unifying Advocacy Efforts Beyond the Constitution.” The event will be a talk given by Adeola Ogunkeyede and Jennifer Kwon from the Legal Justice Aid Center and is currently scheduled for Sept. 16 at 12-1 p.m. in room M229. 

More events are planned later this semester including a movie night organized by the Black Student Alliance. Learn more at www.pvcc.edu/student-services/library/one-book-program.